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Blackfish
Fri 7 Jun 8:45 PM EV9
Sat 8 Jun 12:30 PM EV4
USA | 2013 | 83 mins | In English
auStralian PrEMiErE
Director: Gabriela Cowperthwaite | Screenwriters: Gabriela Cowperthwaite, Eli
Despres | Producer: Manuel V. Oteyza | Distributor: Madman Entertainment
Blackfish, orca, killer whale: for decades these awesome
beasts have been captured, transferred to sea parks and
trained to perform for our entertainment. In 2010, a
five-tonne male named Tilikum killed one of his trainers at
Florida’s SeaWorld. It was not a singular event, though
there are no recorded cases of orcas injuring humans in
the wild. Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s wrenching
documentary follows Tilikum’s tragic story and that of his
fellow captives. In the wild orcas live in close family groups;
in captivity they are surrounded by strangers and kept in
tanks with barely any room to move. The trainers are not,
as you might imagine, highly skilled zoologists, but are
selected for their broad smiles and fit bodies. Through
interviews with the frequently misled and misinformed
workers in this highly profitable industry, and with shocking
never-before-seen footage, the truth behind this ‘family
entertainment’ is revealed.
char... The No-MaN’s
islaNd
...ModdhikhanE Char
Sat 15 Jun 6:30 PM doQ3
Sun 16 Jun 10:45 aM doQ2
India, Japan, Italy, Denmark, Norway | 2012 | 97 mins | In
Bengali and Hindi with English subtitles
auStralian PrEMiErE
Director, Screenwriter, Producer: Sourav Sarangi | Production Company: Son
et Lumiere
“Dams are the new temples of modern India,” said
then-Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, a statement that
signalled his country’s long-term approach to its rivers. The
Farakka Barrage, constructed across the river Ganges in
West Bengal, changed the river’s flow and created
transient islands. The sacred river forms the boundary
between Bangladesh and India, and the survival of the
islanders – in the absence of good farming land or industry
–
is based on a typical border activity: smuggling. Teenage
Rubel was born in India, but his home was washed away
by the transformed river. Now he and his family cling to the
little they have in the face of crumbling banks and cyclonic
tides. Sourav Sarangi’s multiple-award-winning
documentary, filmed over a number of years, tracks Rubel
and his family’s uncertain future with a compassionate and
poetic eye.
Screens with The Village (page 50)
Filmmaker guest: Signe Byrge Sørensen
The crash reel
Mon 10 Jun 2:00 PM EV9
Sun 16 Jun 5:05 PM EV4
USA | 2013 | 108 mins | In English
auStralian PrEMiErE
Director: Lucy Walker | Screenwriters: Pedro Kos, Lucy Walker | Producers:
Julian Cautherly, Lucy Walker | Distributor: Hopscotch Entertainment
American snowboarder Kevin Pearce, an Olympic
contender in 2010, is drawn to the adrenalin high of the
sport. Then a life-changing crash puts his soaring career
in reverse. His great rival, the legendary Shaun White,
continues to rule the slopes as Kevin struggles to regain
his balance – both physically and mentally. The close-knit
Pearce family gather round to help, biting their lips as
their often sage-advice is ignored, and Kevin pushes at
the boundaries of rehabilitation. Kevin’s remarkable story
is woven with awesome action footage, from the
jaw-dropping to the too-scary-to-look-at, featuring Kevin
and his snowboarding buddies, including fellow Olympic
hopeful Sarah Burke. Lucy Walker, a multiple award
winner for her documentaries Blindsight (SFF 2007) and
Waste Land (SFF 2010), has created a wholly compelling
film, and in Kevin she has a charismatic and inspiring
central character.
Screens with Crooked Lines (page 50)
cuTie aNd The Boxer
Fri 14 Jun 10:00 aM EV4
Sun 16 Jun 12:45 PM EV9
USA | 2013 | 82 mins | In Japanese and English with
English subtitles
auStralian PrEMiErE
Director: Zachary Heinzerling | Producers: Lydia Dean Pilcher, Patrick Burns,
Sierra Pettengill, Zachary Heinzerling | Distributor: Madman Entertainment
Virginia Woolf famously said, “A woman must have money
and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.” Noriko
Shinohara would surely agree. Her artistic career was put
on hold and her income plummeted when she married
Ushio. A chronic alcoholic, now 80, Ushio is finally sober
and Noriko has the chance to put pen to paper. Her
comic-strip creation features Ushio, whose art involves
punching canvases with paint-splattered gloves, as the
Boxer. The co-star is Cutie, as Noriko’s bolshie alter-ego.
The story of their enduring relationship, as illustrated by
Noriko, plays out with fury and tenderness. It’s no wonder
their collaborative show is entitled Love is a ROARRR.
Winner of the Directing Award for U.S . Documentary at the
Sundance Film Festival, Heinzerling’s directing debut is a
beautifully crafted ode to the endurance of love and the
creative drive.
Screens with Fighting Spirit (page 50)
daNciNg iN Jaffa
Sun 9 Jun 4:45 PM CrEMornE
Mon 10 Jun 11:30 aM EV9
USA | 2013 | 100 mins | In Arabic, English, Hebrew with
English subtitles
intErnational PrEMiErE
Director: Hilla Medalia | Producers: Hilla Medalia, Diane Nabatoff, Neta
Zwebner-Zaibert | World Sales: K5 International
Champion ballroom dancer, Pierre Dulaine, was born in
Jaffa, but he left the city with his Palestinian-French
mother and his Irish father when he was just a child. Not
just a performer but a renowned dance instructor, he
returns to his birthplace for the first time, to teach the kids
of Jaffa how to two-step. It’s not that straightforward,
however. The dapper Dulaine wants Jewish and Palestinian
girls and boys to dance together – and he somehow
manages to convince a handful of schools to try this radical
(for Jaffa, that is) method. His forthright approach to steps
and posture has some of the kids giggling, and others
backing away. Dulaine, however, is not to be deterred. He
forges on, determined to impart the hidden ballroom skills
of decorum, etiquette and ultimately, respect, to these
prejudice-ridden classrooms.
Screens with The Amber Amulet (10 June only, page 50)
dirTy Wars
WEd 5 Jun 6:00 PM doQ2
Sat 8 Jun 12:00 PM EV8
USA | 2013 | 87 mins | In Dari, Pashto, Somali, Arabic and
English with English subtitles
auStralian PrEMiErE
Director: Richard Rowley | Screenwriters: Jeremy Scahill, David Riker |
Producers: Anthony Arnove, Brenda Coughlin, Jeremy Scahill | Distributor:
Madman Entertainment
Jeremy Scahill, the reporter whose exposé of the
Blackwater mercenary firm gained worldwide attention,
grabs another hot-potato headline topic. A night raid in a
remote province of Afghanistan, around which authorities
are decidedly cagey, is the starting point for Scahill’s
account of the stealthy rise of American covert operations.
In the spotlight is the Joint Special Operations Command
(JSOC), formed in 1980 with a direct line to the White
House, and implicated in secret activities from Afghanistan
to Yemen. Director Richard Rowley’s style – fast edits, slick
visuals and music from the Kronos Quartet – is fittingly
more akin to an action film than current affairs. This is a
story about things hidden in plain sight, and it’s difficult to
avoid the creeping sense of paranoia in this barnstorming
documentary. The film won the Cinematography Award for
U.S . Documentary at Sundance.
doWNloaded
Mon 10 Jun 6:00 PM doQ3
Fri 14 Jun 7:00 PM EV8
USA | 2013 | 107 mins | In English
auStralian PrEMiErE
Director, Screenwriter: Alex Winter | Producers: Alex Winter, Maggie Malina |
Production Company: Trouper Productions
At its peak, nearly 60 million people used Napster: it was a
game-changer, a paradigm shift that turned the music
business on its head. When it was launched in 1999, it
allowed everyone, everywhere, to share everything they
wanted to online, including music. The record companies
didn’t know what was coming, but when they finally took
notice... The story of the industry’s response, both in and
out of court, is utterly riveting – it was never going to be a
dry legal drama with Metallica involved. Director Alex
Winter filmed interviews with Napster founders Shawn
Fanning (pictured), John Fanning and Sean Parker;
musicians including DJ Spooky, who did the music for the
film; and record-label bosses and legal experts. The
unraveling of Napster – described as ‘culture’s Vietnam’
–
is an ephochal story from the dawn of the digital age told
with pace and verve.
dragoN girls
draChEnMädChEn
Sun 9 Jun 1:45 PM doQ2
Sat 15 Jun 1:45 PM doQ2
Germany, China | 2012 | 89 mins | In Mandarin with English
subtitles
auStralian PrEMiErE
Director: Inigo Westmeier | Screenwriter, Producer: Inigo Westmeier, Benjamin
Quabeck | Production Company: Open Window Film
School assemblies have rarely looked this dramatic – but
then Shaolin Tagu Kung Fu School is not your average
institution. It’s located right next to the Shaolin Temple
monastery, considered the birthplace of kung fu. There are
more than 20,000 students – and these are no ordinary
students; their ritual exercises resemble a scene from a
Chinese historical epic. Director and cinematographer
Inigo Westmeier captures the early-morning routine in all
its cinematic glory, before focusing on three pupils: nine
year-old Xin Chenxi, and two teens, Chen Xi and Huang
Luolan. The three girls struggle with the school’s harsh
routine: early rising, six-day weeks, no heating and most
definitely no tears. Despite this, as Westmeier’s film deftly
reveals, becoming a martial arts champion is perhaps
their only chance of escaping the poverty that has dogged
their families.
INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARIES
SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL 2013
SFF.ORG.AU
35